Elevator



1962 J. F. GRUNDMANN 3,061,356

ELEVATOR Filed July 29, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Oct. 30, 1962 J. F. GRUNDMANN 3,061,356

ELEVATOR Filed July 29, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTOPA/EYSZ Oct. 30, 1962 J. F. GRUNDMANN 3,061,356

ELEVATOR Filed July 29, 1959 s Sheets-Shet 3 ATraPA/A'KS:

United States Patent ()fifice 3,061,356 Patented Oct. 30, 1962 3,061,356 ELEVATOR John F. Grundm'ann, Redondo Beach, Calif., assignor, by memo assignments, to Joy Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed July 29, 1959, Scr. No. 830,346 5 Claims. (Cl. 294-90) This invention relates in general to elevators employed in the drilling and surfacing of wells to raise and lower pipe or casing and relates more particularly to an elevator incorporating 'a novel arm structure which contributes to its safety, facility of use and economy of manufacture.

Elevators of the general character of the present invention are commonly employed in the oil drilling industry and are ordinarily connected by means of links to a lifting means, such as the traveling block, and have members which are adapted to be locked in closed relation around a pipe in a position below a collar so that the collar will serve as a shoulder to prevent the elevator from moving off the end of the pipe. The use of elevators in the handling of strings of pipe has always presented a more or less serious problem owing to the danger of dropping a string of pipe in the well, or the dropping of a stand or length of pipe in or around the derrick, thereby endangering the workmen who must work on the derrick floor during the raising or lowering of the pipe.

In the prior art, elevators have been made, during substantially the entire period of the development of the oil industry, with the upper and lower arms thereof extending outwardly from the elevator body in vertical alignment so that the retaining memberjoining the two of them is substantially vertical when the elevator is suspended in the vertical position. The elevator is so supported by links in contact with and below the upper arms, the links being suspended at their other end from a large hook. In this type of structure, which may be seen, for example, in United States patents to W. W. Wilson, numbers 2,237,856 and 2,356,805, the upper arms must not only be exceedingly strong to carry the weight of a long string of pipe but must be inordinately long in their extension outwardly from the body of the elevator so as to provide sufiicient room for the rotation of the elevator in the eyes of the link. Because of the great weights which they must support, elevators and the links supporting them are relatively heavy and cumbersome structures at best.

Further, in order that the links may support the upper arm of the elevator at the closest position to the elevator body, the lower eyes of the links are bent inwardly so that the supporting or lowest surface thereof is at a position inward of the shank of the link which extends downwardly from the hook. The aforesaid bend of the link which is substantially in the lower eye thereof, inwardly away from the vertical makes the handling of the elevator, which rotates on its upper arms in the eyes, difficult With the use of the old vertically aligned arms unless there is an excessive opening formed by the upper and lower arms in a horizontal direction and by the body of the elevator and the retaining member in the vertical direction. The result of this is that the upper arm must be longer and, therefore, stronger as it tends to be supported by the link eyes at a greater distance from the center of the elevator. Before the lower link eyes were bent inwardly, the same situation existed in that the straight link eyes naturally tended to support the elevator at points away from the side thereof, requiring a relatively longer upper link arm. A good example of this can be seen in FIG. of US. Patent No. 2,237,856.

In the development of my invention, surprising results have been obtained in the operation of anelevator hav ing a swept forward link arm; that is, one in which the shorter lower arm is not directly vertically below the upper arm when the elevator is in the vertical position but is at a considerable distance forward of it toward the handles so that the side elevational view of the retaining member between the upper and lower arms is at a con-' siderable angle with the vertical or the center line of the elevator. The results which I have obtained with this structure are that both the upper and lower arms may be shorter and, therefore, of considerably lighter weight than those of the prior art and the elevator is handled and rotated easier in the supporting link eyes even through there is a smaller opening formed by the arms, retaining member, and the body of the elevator.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved elevator. 7

It is a principal object of the present invention to pro vied a more economically manufactured elevator in that the arms may be shorter and of lighter weight because they are supported closer to the body of the elevator.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an elevator which rolls easier and with less effort in the link eyes when the elevator is being opened or when it is rotated to pick up a stand of drill pipe from the rack.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the following description and drawings which re late to a center latch or side latch elevator constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention.

In the following description and accompanying drawings there is disclosed one embodiment of this invention. The invention, however, is not limited to this nor any other particular embodiment but is to be given the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawings, which are for illustrative purposes only,

FIG. 1' is a view showing the front of an elevator embodying the invention and showing the relation of the elevator suspending means to the pipe-engaging members of the elevator;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the elevator in open, horizontal position;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of an elevator emb'ody} ing the present invention; 7

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view taken along the line 4- -4 of FIG. 3 of one of the linkarms of the elevator with the link in supporting position;

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of an embodiment of the present invention rotated degrees from the position shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view of the elevator takenalong the line 66 in FIG. 5 and showing one of the link arms with the link in supporting position;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary front view of the elevator taken along the line 7---7 of FIG. 3 showing the link arm on one side of the elevator as it is supported in the link eye;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary view of one link arm of the elevator taken along the line 8'8 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary front view of a prior art elevator and is a view comparable to that in FIG. 7 of the present invention; and

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary view'of the link arm shown in' FIG. 9 and is a view comparable to that in FIG. 8 of the present invention. I v

The elevator 1 shown in FIGS. 18 comprises two body members 30 and '31 having externalside faces 7a and 7, respectively. Formed on the rearward edges of body members 30 and 31 are hinge lugs 9 and 10 and 8 and 11, respectively, and extending therefrom so as to support hinge pin'S surrounded by a hinge spring 6 which urges the elevator into a closed position. Elevator 1 is shown in such a closed position in FIG. 1 where it is supporting a pipe 2. The elevator, in turn, is typically supported by a hook or connector 40 which is generally suspended from the top of the derrick. As shown in FIG. 1, the link arms 3 are supported in trunnions 39 of the connector 40 and at the lower end thereof engage trunnions or upper arms 13 by means of inwardly curved eyes 4. Trunnions 13 extend substantially diametrically opposed from each other when said elevator is closed. Eyes 4 are so curved inwardly toward the elevator so as to tend to contact the opposite side faces, 7a, 7 respectively thereof to be in supporting contact with the innermost portions of the trunnions or upper arms 13 respectively of the elevator.

The interior of the elevator is generally formed by two substantially semi-cylindrical surfaces 32 and 33 which engage the surface of the pipe 2 and hold it in its suspended relationship by means of a large diameter portion or collar at the top thereof.

The members 30 and 31 are held in their closed relationship by means of a latch which is comprised of a latch lever 34, hingedly mounted on. the member 31 by means of hinge pin 36. Latch lever 34 has an inner latching face 68 which in order to lock the elevator in its closed relationship engages a latching face 37 on latch lug 35 extending forwardly of the other body member 30.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 located forward and below arms 13 are shorter arms 15 extending outwardly from the opposite side faces 7, 7a, respectively of the elevator. Arms 13 and lower arms 15 are connected by inwardly and forwardly directed retaining members 14 respectively which members 14 extend longitudinally of the members 30, 31 and have their longitudinally extending axes lying generally in a common plane which plane intersects the central longitudinal axis of the elevator at an acute angle. Thus, trunnion 13, retaining arm 14 and lower arm 15 form a link arm 17 on each side of the elevator when secured together by means of pins 16. Each link arm 17 forms an opening 18 which is bounded by the inner surface of arms 13 and 15, the external side face 7 or 7a of the elevator, and the inner surface of the retaining member 14.

The relatively close fit of the eye 4 in opening 18 is indicated in FIGS. 4 and 6-8 where the lower portion of the eye is in supporting contact with the upper arm 13. That is, the lower inner surface 19 of the eye substantially contacts the side 7 of the elevator and the support contact surface 20 of the eye 4 contacts the lower surface of the upper arm 13.

In FIG. the elevator has been rotated substantially 90 degrees from the position shown in FIG. 3 in a direction indicated by the arrow on handle 12. This rotational movement of the elevator and, more specifically, the

movement of the arms 13 and 15, the 'side faces 7 and 7a and the retaining members 14, forming the openings 18, for the eyes 4 is a typical rotational movement required when the elevator is in open position to pick up a pipe 2 in a substantially horizontal position or to lower a length of pipe into the same position as indicated, after which time the elevator would be opened to release it.

One of the advantages of the forwardly directed link arm 17 may be readily visualized by comparing the position of the link arm in FIG. 5 with the conventional arm which during the entire history of the oil industry has been in alignment with the center line of the elevator and pipe. If, for example, the bottom end of lower arm 15 were moved'upwardly to be in the aforesaid conventional position, then the inner surface of the lower arm 15 would be in a relatively close relationship with the right-hand outer surface of the eye 4 in FIG. 5. This clearly indicates the need for a greater distance between the inner surfaces of the upper and lower arms in a link arm in the conventional elevator. In other words, the lower arm, in the present invention, being closer to the upper arm as indicated in FIG. 5, is out of the way of interference with the right-hand side of the eye 4 because the lower arm has been moved forward toward the handle of the elevator in FIG. 3, or downward in FIG. 5.

In FIGS. 9 and 10, showing a conventional elevator 21, the eye 4 of the link, as are the other members, is drawn to the same scale as in FIGS. 7 and 8, showing the present invention. In the former it is supporting a conventional link arm 26 which is formed by upper and lower arms 22 and 24 of equal length and the vertical retaining member 23, said retaining member being held in the arms by pins 25. Side 27 of the elevator 21, the aforesaid arms 22 and 24, and retaining member 23 form the conventional opening 28 which is required to be larger than the opening 18 so that a conventional elevator can rotate on eye 4 from a position similar to that indicated in FIG. 3, to a position similar to that shown in FIG. 5.

From FIGS. 7-10, it is further easy to discern that conventional arms 22 and 24 are required to be considcrably longer than arms 13 and 15, respectively, according to the present invention. Similarly, the distance between the inner surface of the upper arm 22 and the lower arm 24, in FIG. 9, is much greater than the distance between the upper arm 13 and lower arm 15 in FIG. 7. hese distances add additional weight and material to the elevator and, in addition, the upper arm in a conventional elevator must be made heavier than the upper arm of a comparable elevator according to the present invention because the points of support in the former are farther from the elevator body than in the latter.

Again, comparing the views in FIGS. 8 and 10, of the present invention and the conventional elevator, respectively, it is obvious that with a smaller opening 18 for the former that it would be easier to rotate elevator 1 on eye 4 than it would be to rotate conventional elevator 21, having the larger opening 28, on the same eye.

Thus, it is readily seen that the forwardly directed link arm 17 requires less material for manufacture, permits a relatively weaker supporting upper arm, shorter upper and lower arms, and a smaller opening, and at the same time with a smaller opening rolls easier in the link eye than an elevator having the upper and lower arms in alignment with the center line of the pipe.

Although the invention has been described and illustrated in detail, it is clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation, the spirit and scope of the invention being limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An elevator comprising, a pair of cooperating members hinged together so as to define a bore therebetween for encircling a pipe, said members having cooperating latch means respectively for releasably latching said members together, said members when latched together defining a longitudinally extending body having a central longitudinal axis, a pair of diametrically opposed portions extending laterally outwardly from said members respectively when said members are latched together, said opposed portions having dependent portions spaced from and extending longitudinally of said members respectively, said dependent portions having their longitudinal axes lying generally in a common plane which common plane intersects said central longitudinal axis at an acute angle.

2. An elevator comprising, a pair of cooperating members hinged together so as to define a bore therebetween for encircling a pipe, said members having cooperating latch means respectively for releasably latching said members together, said members when latched together defining a longitudinally extending body having a central longitudinal axis, a pair of diametrically opposed trunnions extending laterally outwardly from said members respectively when said members are latched together, said opposed trunnions having dependent portions spaced from and extending longitudinally of said members respec' tively, said dependent portions having their longitudinal axes lying generally in a common plane which common plane intersects said central longitudinal aXis at an acute angle.

3. An elevator comprising, a pair of cooperating members hinged together so as to define a bore therebetween for encircling a pipe, said members having cooperating latch members respectively for releasably latching said members together, said members when latched together defining a longitudinally extending body having a central longitudinal axis, a pair of diametrically opposed portions extending laterally outwardly from said members respectively when said members are latched together, said opposed portions having dependent portions spaced from and extending longitudinally of said members respectively, said dependent portions having their longitudinal axes lying generally in a common plane which common plane intersects said central longitudinal axis at an acute angle, and arm means spaced from said diametrically opposed portions and extending laterally outwardly from said members to said dependent portions respectively.

4. An elevator comprising, a pair of cooperating members hinged together so as to definea bore therebetween for encircling a pipe, said members having cooperating latch means respectively for releasably latching said members together, said members when latched together defining a longitudinally extending body having a central longitudinal axis, diametrically opposed trunnions extending laterally outwardly from said members respectively, said opposed trunnions having dependent elongated retaining arms secured at the one ends thereof to the free ends of said diametrically opposed trunnions respectively, said retaining arms being spaced from and extending longitudinally of said members respectively, said retaining arms having their longitudinal axes lying generally in a common plane which common plane intersects said central longitudinal axis at an acute angle, arm means spaced from said trunnions and extending laterally outwardly from said members respectively, said arm means secured at the free ends thereof to the other ends of said elongated retaining arms respectively.

5. An elevator comprising, a pair of cooperating members hinged together so as to define a bore thcrebetween for encircling a pipe, said members having cooperating latch means respectively for releasably latching said members together, said members when latched together defining a longitudinally extending body having a central longitudinal axis, diametrically opposed trunnions extending laterally outwardly from said members respectively, said trunnions having dependent elongated retaining arms releasably secured at the one ends thereof to the free ends of said diametrically opposed trunnions respectively, said retaining arms being spaced from and extending longitudinally of said members respectively, said retaining arms having their longitudinal axes lying generally in a common plane which common plane intersects said central longitudinal axis at an acute angle, arm means spaced from said trunnions and extending laterally outwardly from said members respectively, said arm means being releasably secured at the free ends threof to the other ends of said elongated retaining arms respectively, and said arm means being shorter in length than said trunnions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,781,922 Grant Nov. 18, 1930 2,081,591 Lundeen May 25, 1937 2,211,016 Krell Aug. 13, 1940 2,237,856 Wilson Apr. 8, 19'4-1 2,354,217 Mullinix et al. July 25, 1944 2,356,805 Wilson Aug. 29, 1944 

